“Are you sure this is wise?” Marcus asked as Leon led him and a small complement of Tempest Knights through the halls of his palace on their way to Leon’s private arkpad, where Silver Spear awaited.
“What? Heading back to the Bull Kingdom?” Leon asked with a wry grin. “Haven’t we been over this enough in the past few days?”
“Not that,” Marcus quickly replied. “I get that you wanted to postpone the tour of the Ten Tribes until you got back; what I’m more concerned about is how you’re going to get all of the stone giants back with us.”
Leon’s lips thinned. Marcus was right to worry, he had to admit; it was going to be risky. But he had full faith in the stone giants, especially after so many died for him in the Bull Kingdom’s civil war.
He was going to pull as many as who wanted to join him into his soul realm as he could and transport them back to Stormhollow. Along the way, he’d be using some of the inert golems Nestor had built to see if they could actually inhabit the frames. If they could, then Leon felt their aid would be of immense value, as if golems were on the table, then he felt that they might be able to inhabit arks, too, obviating the need for Leon to manufacture wisps himself that could operate the aircraft.
“We have two months before the Grave Warden arrives,” Leon said, and not for the first time. “I want to get them south as quickly as possible. The faster we can do that, the faster we can integrate them into the Kingdom.”
Leon cringed slightly as he finished his sentence—he was starting to come around to Iron-Striker’s assertion that his Kingdom needed a name.
“I’m sure there are other ways we could go about that, though,” Marcus protested. “Sending more arks, arranging local leaders to have the giants move over land...”
Leon halted just before heading outside onto the arkpad. He glared back at the Tempest Knights and jerked his head, wordlessly telling them to head out before him. To their credit, not a single one of them balked at leaving him alone with Marcus in the atrium.
Once they were alone, Leon seriously whispered, “Do you have a problem with the giants?”
“No I don’t,” Marcus easily replied. “If it weren’t for you and them, Alcander and I probably wouldn’t have survived Octavius’ play for the throne. You rescued us, and we fought alongside the giants in that last battle. I don’t have anything against them, really...”
“I’m sensing a ‘but’ coming,” Leon said, his patience waning slightly.
Marcus grimaced and said, “House Aeneas has held the March of Aventino for centuries. When the stone giants attempted to raid the Bull Kingdom, we were one of the biggest barriers they faced. I like to think that I know the stone giants fairly well...”
“And you think I’m placing too much trust in them?” Leon asked.
“I’m saying that taking anything like the stone giants into your soul realm is an immense risk!” Marcus responded. “If you ask me to, I will fight and bleed and die and kill alongside the giants, just as I did before! If you were considering pulling anyone or anything else like this into your soul realm, I would put up the same protests!”
Leon stared at Marcus for a long moment, Marcus’ sharp blue eyes not wavering in the slightest. With a sigh, Leon responded, “Don’t forget I have a bunch of library golems already in my soul realm. And a demon. And a Thunderbird. And a me in magic body form. If a bunch of fifth or sixth-tier stone giants tried anything down there, they’d not get far.”
Marcus frowned slightly, then slightly lowered his head in acquiescence. “I’ve lodged my protests,” he said. “I’ll follow your lead.”The source of this content can be connected to n0v3lb!n★
Leon smiled and clapped his friend on the shoulder. “Never shy away from giving me your opinion,” Leon said. “My decision is firm today, but it may not be in the future, and I’ll need honest perspectives.”
“That’s what I’m here for,” Marcus replied as Leon led them out onto the arkpad.
Not too far away, the rest of Leon’s family, retinue, and a host of Tempest Knights were waiting. Nestor wasn’t accompanying them as Leon had sent him to the Raven Tribe to aid them with the arks that the Director had brought and those that Leon had seized from the Sunlit Empire. Leon would be stopping by Raiginn along the way to pick him and Penelope up to take them back to Occulara. The tau and all of his ministers and Tribal elders would also be staying behind, though they could all get in contact with him with comm lotuses if they needed to. Likewise, Tikos was staying behind to work on what it called ‘a project secret!’
“I think we’re a bit late,” Leon said with a cheeky grin as he, Marcus, and those few knights he’d sent out ahead of them hurried over to board Silver Spear.
Everyone turned to greet him, and Elise jokingly said, “You’re late, husband!”
“Yeah?” Leon laughed as he slid past her and made for the ramp into the waiting ark. “Now I’m waiting on all of you! Let’s go, people!”
With a lack of ceremony that Leon found just delightful, he led his people into Silver Spear.
As everyone filed into the destroyer’s waiting area, Leon called out, “You people ready to head north?”
“Hells yeah, boss!” Alix excitedly shouted.
“Abso-fuckin-lutely!” Alcander agreed, the two commanders of the Tempest Knights leaving the order—aside from those joining the journey north—in the hands of its seniormost Captain while they were gone. Accompanying Alcander was his wife, Sofia, who seemed just as excited as he was, though she was restraining herself a bit and allowing him to express all of that excitement.
“I’m ready,” Gaius said in a much quieter tone, though the shallow smile he wore betrayed his eagerness.
“I’m good to go,” Anna neutrally stated, and her sister nodded right beside her. Eirene, Anna’s girlfriend, anxiously smiled next to her.
Instead, his eyes landed upon the silver-haired fifth-tier mage he could sense in the back of the group, doing his best to make himself look unassuming. His aura was far stronger than the last time Leon had seen him, indicating the Hesperidic Apple Leon had given him had done wonders for his health. His eyes tracked Valeria all the way from the ramp and to the group, and though he kept his cool, Leon could see his hands twitching slightly in eagerness.
Leon spared as many greetings as politeness demanded for those waiting for him, but he still pushed himself through the crowd to reach Justin, allowing the Director behind him to handle most of the glad-handing.
“My little girl,” Justin proudly said as he reached out for Valeria, who released Leon’s arm to hug her father.
Leon remained a bit more distant, his eyes stinging and a lump forming in his throat as he watched Valeria and her father reunite.
When the two separated, Valeria looked like the sun itself had taken up residence in her smile, while Justin’s warm expression turned colder and less confident as his eyes landed upon Leon.
“Leon,” Justin stated. “It’s good to see you return. It’s been a while.”
“It has,” Leon neutrally agreed. “You’re looking well.”
Justin’s frosty look cracked a little as Valeria said, “How have you been, Dad? Your aura feels much stronger than before!”
“Yes,” Justin said as a bit of warmth returned to his face with Valeria’s enthusiasm. “That apple you gave me really helped. I haven’t felt this strong in a very long time. I’m actually starting to believe that I’ll recover my power before I die.”
“Dad!” Valeria sharply rebuked. “I don’t want to hear such talk again! We’re going to save Mother together! I’ll hear no more about death in this family!”
Justin sheepishly grinned. He glanced at Leon and said, “How can I argue with that?”
“If you ever find out a way, let me know,” Leon responded, his tone a little stiff and stilted.
Valeria pouted for about half a second, which Leon knew was about her usual tolerance for expressing emotion in public, before reaching out and pinching his arm.
Leon briefly considered reacting in an exaggeratedly defensive manner, but with Justin there, he couldn’t help but refrain.
“Anyway,” he awkwardly said, “I’ll see you... both later?”
Valeria gave him a sad smile before agreeing, and then leading her father off somewhere they could catch up without being surrounded by people.
Leon watched them leave, his thoughts twisting into knots. Fortunately, he wasn’t given much time to land on any thought in particular before he heard his name being called out. When he turned, he found Talal approaching him.
“Apologies for interrupting,” the Samarid said.
“It’s fine,” Leon replied with a wave of his hand. “Something the matter?”
“Just some business,” Talal explained. “I was hoping you could come around your offices later so that we can go over a few things...”
Leon smiled and nodded as Talal went into some detail regarding their planned collaboration between the Ravens and Heaven’s Eye’s Magical Research and Development branch. There wasn’t much for Leon to do, he found; merely giving Talal the go-ahead he needed to do certain things. He wasn’t that worried about it, though, since the Director would also be around to keep an eye on things.
Once Talal finished speaking and left to chat with the Director a bit, Leon found himself being left alone. A few people were giving him looks like they wanted to talk but didn’t want to approach him, while most of those Leon would’ve rather spoken with were busy with their families. He started to feel just a little bit alone standing on the edge of the crowd until he felt two familiar pairs of arms find him.
“You’re looking broody,” Cassandra whispered into his ear, while from the other person Leon received no words, only feelings rippling through his soul realm.
His blond Princess and dusky-skinned river nymph had come at just the right time.
“How rude,” Leon joked, “to disturb a man when he’s brooding. Have you no manners?”
“None at all,” Cassandra said with a wide smile. “I was talking with M—with Naiad, and she had a brilliant idea: why don’t we head inside to her favorite pool and relax? It’s been a long four days and I’m ready to relax until tomorrow.”
Leon grinned. “That sounds like a fantastic plan to me.”
Without further ado, Leon let his ladies steer him inside. They were only staying in Occulara for a day or so, and everyone else made plans to fill that time, so he just allowed himself to relax and not worry about them as he walked through the halls of his old home.
‘Still feels more home than Kataigida,’ he idly mused. He pondered that thought until Cassandra and Maia finally got him to Maia’s favorite pool in the villa, after which they quite effectively seized his attention.